Category Archives: Science Marches Onward

A powdered alcohol intended to be mixed up into drinks has gained approval from a federal regulator.

The product, called Palcohol, had received the greenlight from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau briefly last year before the bureau backtracked and said the label approvals had been given in error.

On Wednesday, bureau spokesman Tom Hogue told The Associated Press the issues were resolved and that four varieties of Palcohol were approved.

That’s approval on the federal level only, mind you. States are still free to ban the product, if they so choose. And some already have. What are they worried about? Among other things,

Concerns have included abuse by minors… and whether Palcohol’s light weight would make it easy to sneak alcohol into public events…

Bruce Feldman’s piece about how Stanford is using virtual reality technology to train its quarterbacks is fascinating. Read the sucker.

Do I think it has a widespread future in college football? Well, let’s put it this way… Stanford’s head coach David Shaw went from being a skeptic about how this kind of technology might help (“I made it about two plays before I felt seasick…”) to seeing a real big benefit.

“‘I was like, ‘Wow, if we could actually put quarterbacks in a virtual world so we’re not using extra practice reps, we’re not extending practice at all — we’re not messing with the 20-hour work week, we’re just creating a library of things for a QB to learn something, that’d help your backup QB who’s never gonna get as many reps as a starter and helps your starter get three reps on a play that he screwed up on and he can just watch the same thing over and over again and see everybody and feel like he’s there.’ When Derek started explaining it to me, I got really excited.” [Emphasis added.]

One question, though. Does anyone besides me find it a little strange that the NCAA apparently doesn’t monitor painkiller distribution at member schools? You’d think that would be an easy enough thing for it to do.

SEC officiating coordinator Steve Shaw was present as well and, after hearing the presentation, told Sicking, “We’ve got to get these helmets to everybody and not have a high school worry, ‘What if I break three face masks? I can’t afford that technology.’”

“The Gators haven’t had a receiver sniff first- or second-team All-SEC honors from the coaches since Percy Harvin in 2008.” When people tell you Florida’s offensive personnel don’t live up to the program’s recruiting reputation, this is the kind of stuff they’re talking about.